KDDI Corporation (KDDI) and DriveNets Ltd. have signed a basic agreement to form a strategic partnership focused on accelerating the adoption of open network architecture, which separates hardware and software components in network infrastructure.
Under this collaboration, the two companies aim to expand the use of disaggregated routers, enhance their management efficiency, and reduce both capital investment and operating costs in large-scale network environments.
Ido Susan, CEO, DriveNets Ltd., said, “Together with KDDI, we will promote openness, disaggregation, and innovation across the entire network, from the core network to the edge and aggregation layers. By streamlining network operations and introducing automation and generative AI (GenAI) tools, we aim to help KDDI enhance the efficiency of its network and build a resilient architecture that can flexibly meet future demands.”
As part of the agreement, KDDI will begin deploying DriveNets’s Network Cloud solution across backbone core routers at four key locations, with commercial operations expected to begin by the end of fiscal year 2025.
Looking ahead, KDDI and DriveNets plan to jointly develop a flexible and scalable network architecture that can quickly respond to evolving market demands and technological advancements, particularly to support the increasing data traffic driven by artificial intelligence (AI) innovations.
Kazuyuki Yoshimura, Senior Managing Executive Officer, CTO, General Manager of Core Technology Sector, KDDI Corporation, stated, “Since 2020, we at KDDI have been committed to achieving open and scalable networks, and we believe our collaboration with DriveNets will create significant new innovations. Our vision for the future is to build a flexible and robust architecture suited to the AI era, allowing us to swiftly respond to the evolving market needs and set new industry standards.”
